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| Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Davis
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.81
You Save: $6.14 (41%)
New (39) Used (14) from $7.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 14306
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0061473081
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421660922
EAN: 9780061473081
ASIN: 0061473081
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
The members of Led Zeppelin are major deities in the pantheon of rock gods. The first and heaviest of the heavy metal monsters, they violently shook the foundations of rock music and took no prisoners on the road. Their tours were legendary, their lives were exalted—and in an era well known for sex and drugs, the mighty Zeppelin set an unattainable standard of excess and mythos for any band that tried to follow them. They were power, they were fantasy, they were black magic. No band ever flew as high as Led Zeppelin or suffered so disastrous a fall. And only some of them lived to tell the tale. Hammer of the Gods is the New York Times bestselling epic saga of the hard reign of Page, Plant, Jones, and Bonham—a spellbinding, electrifying, no-holds-barred classic of rock 'n' roll history that has now been updated to include the continuing adventures of the band.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
Hammer of the Gods: Fascinating Legend November 19, 2008
Real page-turner. I don't know how much of this stuff was true, but it all seems very plausible, considering how much we understand of Led Zeppelin, the greatest band in history. In the 2007 London Reunion Concert, Robert Plant even referred to seeing someone with "Hammer of the Gods" enblazoned on a t-shirt. If I remember correctly he likened that title to a male body organ "..so late in life." Just do a search here on Amazon and it's for sale in the Marketplace. Not cheap, but worth it to fans of great music. This edition of "Hammer of the Gods is so up to date that it refers to this December 2007 concert. All Zeppelin fans must be this book and DVD.
 hammer of the gods less than divine September 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Finally read the Zeppelin bio after years of hearing about the book's legendary status. What a letdown.
Little interesting info about the musicians, instead just groupie rumors and trashing hotels, written in the most lame prose I've endured since reading my school newspaper back in junior high. Some really wince-inducing passages.
I saw on the back cover that author Stephen Davis has written quite a few rock band bios, and this feels slapped together just under deadline.
The Heavy Led Zeppelin Trip January 16, 2008
There are few bands that have achieved the musical heights of the four Englishmen known as Led Zeppelin. Songs like Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven, Kashmir and Black Dog are staples of young and old, charts and radio; catchiness and memorability. Similarly, very few bands have had as much popularity, mystique, innuendo or power attributed to them as the folk and blues hard rock legends.
While the roots, music, business dealings and concerts of the band are present and discussed Led Zeppelin's hedonistic travails and fantastic romps through America and Europe are what Hammer Of The Gods (a phrase brought to contemporary consciousness by Friedrich Nietzsche and heard in the 1970 song Immigrant Song) is largely focused on.
If reports are true much of the book's information and insider tips stem from the band's roadie and tour manager Richard Cole, in addition to the information collected, and chronologically presented, from press and public sources. Given Richard Cole's role and vocation Hammer Of The Gods is riddled with stories of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll as well as concert grosses and tour itineraries and exploits. Much of the information might be both exaggerated and shrouded in the daze of yesteryears memory, but Hammer Of The Gods is a fast and interesting read on the band and its habits. Singer Robert Plant, who is presented as a debauched sex symbol, says as much in a post-publication quotation attributed to him in later editions. Guitarist Jimmy Page, who was the band's main composer, is seen as a semi-junkie with a lust for young girls and magick, drummer John Bonzo as an affable drunk drummer who beat the drums harder than anybody while bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones is both absent and, perhaps by implication, more serene.
There are other books out there on Led Zeppelin - including one by Richard Cole called Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored - but it is hard to imagine a more interesting read on the legendary Brits than this - warts, booze, groupies and all.
 Armadillos in their Trousers December 29, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I used to listen to Led Zep in high school, and until the release of Mothership and the publicity surrounding the reunion concert I never knew anything about the band. This book was a totally enjoyable read and a good overview of the band's history. I came away with an image of the band members as four vibrant and dynamic individuals. Their story is a fascinating one, and I'll enjoy their music even more now.
As Overblown as the Band Itself December 28, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Davis' profile of Led Zepplin is probably a reliable protrait of the band. If you are like me and you don't care too much for Led Zep music, you will still find the book an interesting read as a slice of pop culture history and biography of at least one fairly interesting guy (Jimmy Page).
Davis' use of language is sometimes preposterously overblown. His diction is sometimes questionable, too, as when he describes Bonham flying into a rage. Bonham "apotheosized into the Beast." (Here you have an example of both hyperbole and poor diction.)
The book is filled with this type of writing, which makes it exciting to read while casting a shadow of doubt as to its veracity.
Davis doesn't call Page out on his affected interest in black magic and sorcery. Davis seems to take it all seriously. The other side of that story is Page was a young man, in his 20s, with excess cash and a deficit in maturity, dabbling in a silly hobby.
Overall, this was a good read for the uninitiated. A bit of a guilty pleasure really.
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